Even Superman Screws Up Sometimes
by Smile because it happened
Summary: Sometimes it's hard being the adult. Darry's difficult night.


_Just a random attempt to try and ease some writers block ; p_

"Ponyboy, light off in five minutes ok?" I called from the other side of his door.

"Ok Dar," he called back easily.

Four minutes and 50 seconds later I was walking back towards his room. Just as I reached his door, the chink of light that had been shining underneath it quickly vanished. I grinned to myself as I stuck my head round his door. "Nice try smarty!"

I heard muffled laughter from the vaguely Ponyboy-shaped lump on the bed and slipped properly into his room. Ponyboy's head and shoulders appeared on the pillow as I yanked the covers back down to reach the end of the bed where a gap had appeared after he'd tugged them up. He flipped onto his back to look at me and I smiled reassuringly at him, pleased when he returned it.

"Now this light stays off you hear? It's getting late and you were up early this morning." He nodded solemnly, looking slightly lost in the bed without Sodapop beside him. "Ok then, g'night."

I got halfway across the room before he called my name. "Darry?!" I turned back to him and waited. "When do you think Soda'll be back? I mean…it's getting late like you said and…" He trailed off, looking at me anxiously. I walked back to him and perched on the edge of his bed, gently pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"I meant it's getting late for you to be awake kiddo, it's almost twelve. But you know what Soda gets like when he's at a party, especially as he's trying to cheer Steve up." Pony nodded, finding comfort in my reasoning. "And they didn't get up 'til at least three, they'll still have bundles of energy left. He told you not to wait up for him, remember?" Ponyboy nodded again, relaxing slightly against the pillows. "Now, you need to get some sleep. You know where I am if you need me, but I'll come and check on you every once in a while and if you look like you're having a nightmare I'll wake you up. Does that sound ok?"

"Yeah." Pony mumbled, sounding sleepy already.

"Good boy." I reached out and ruffled his hair before moving towards the door. I paused and looked back over my shoulder, watching as he snuggled down further under the blankets, pulling them tightly up to his chin as he closed his eyes. I slid silently out of his room, leaving his door open a little, just how he liked it. I checked on Ponyboy twice before dozing off on the sofa around half one.

I jerked awake as the screen door crashed open. Steve stumbled through, sniggering loudly to himself. Soda followed close on his heels, lurching forward so violently he knocked Steve onto the couch then collapsed on top of him. They rolled around laughing until Soda crashed to the floor, clumsily picking himself up and noticing me standing there for the first time.

"Darry!" He slurred, reaching to grab my shoulder but missing. "Fancying meeting you here!" I deliberately placed my hands on my hips and puffed out my chest.

Soda looked down at Steve who was now curled up in a ball on the couch, snorting loudly with laughter. "SHhhhhhhhh!" Soda scolded in an over-exaggerated whisper, placing his finger to his lips. "You'll wake Ponyboy!" Steve sat up abruptly upon hearing Pony's name, peering blearily at a spot behind me.

"Ponyboy?" He questioned, looking up at Soda. "But he's already awake."

I spun around to where Steve was pointing, and sure enough, there was Ponyboy, blinking and rubbing his eyes against the bright lights of the living room. I pointed sternly at him, showing him I meant business. "Go back to your room Ponyboy."

"Soda?" Pony said timidly, taking a step forward and staring fixedly at Sodapop.

"Ponyboy," I growled, lowering the tone of my voice from warning to threatening. "Go back to your bedroom."

He looked at me, then at Soda, then back at me. When I lower my voice like that, Ponyboy knows he's really pushing his luck and is treading on dangerous ground. That alone is usually enough to get him to behave. He took a second step forward and I saw him lift his foot for another.

I drew myself up to my full height and raised my finger to point at his face. "You take one more step mister…" I left the sentence hanging, finishing it instead with my best death glare. Both Ponyboy and Soda usually wilted under this, but Pony was obviously feeling a lot braver tonight because instead of running straight back to his room like I expected, he just placed his foot back on the floor and stayed where he was.

I was shocked that he'd openly defy me like that, I wasn't quite sure how I was gonna handle it if he ignored me this third time. My natural instinct was to yell at him until I was blue in the face, but that would only trigger his natural instinct, running straight to Sodapop. I went through a few different scenarios in my head before finally deciding I'd grab his arm, march him straight back to bed, tell him he was grounded for the next two days and that we were going to have a long talk about his behaviour first thing tomorrow morning.

My silence had obviously unnerved Ponyboy, because as I snapped out of my punishment ideas he was starting to waver. I raised my eyebrows at him, the final step before resorting to the newly decided plan b. He gave me a final pleading look before turning back towards his room.

I sighed in relief and triumph, only to have all my hard work ruined when Soda chose that exact moment to shout out "Ponyboy!!!!"

I made a grab for Pony, but he was too quick, darting past me and into the safety of Sodapop's waiting arms. "You are in big trouble kid!" I snapped at him as he buried his head into Soda, who hugged him clumsily back.

"You know P…Pone, you're my fav…favourite baby brother!" Soda announced loudly, stumbling slightly over his words. Ponyboy looked up at him strangely, pulling away from him slightly. "I'm your only baby brother."

This threw Soda for a minute, but he recovered, proclaiming proudly "But even if I had more baby brothers, you'd still be my favourite!"

Pony nodded slowly, carefully unwinding his arms from Soda's waist. "You smell funny," he said naively.

Soda ignored this comment, reaching deep into his pocket and producing a thick wad of cash and brandishing it proudly. "Look what I got Darry! I won it, I won it for us!" He declared happily. Ponyboy's eyes were as wide as saucers as he followed the money in Soda's hand with his eyes. "Money money money money money!" Soda chanted, throwing the notes up high into the air, laughing uproariously as the fluttered to the ground around him and Pony.

Pony wriggled out from under Soda's arm, crouching down to gather up the scattered money, trying to catch rouge notes as they floated down.

"Ponyboy don't touch them! Leave it alone you hear me!" I grabbed hold of his arm, jerking him up from the floor and away from Soda all at once. Before he could even open his mouth in protest, I'd whisked him through into his bedroom and bundled him into bed. "Darry?!" He cried, looking at me with big scared eyes.

"You stay here. You leave this room, I'm gonna drag you straight back in here and beat the tar out of you, do you understand?!" I yelled, ignoring the way his eyes started tearing up as he nodded dumbly. I slammed his door shut and stormed back into the living room.

"Darry? Darry what's wrong? Aren't you pleased?" Soda gabbled, looking confused and flustered. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shoved my face right up close to his.

"Where the hell did you get that money Sodapop Curtis!" I bellowed, watching as he crumpled under my glare.

"I won it…" he stuttered, his bloodshot eyes locked on mine.

"You won it by doing what?" I muttered through clenched teeth, reminding myself that Ponyboy was in the next room.

"Barrel racing. I won and everyone was cheering me. They kept buying me drinks…I had to drink them else…else…well I just had to. I won us $200 for Pete's sake! I thought you'd be pleased!" He wailed, starting to sway from side to side as his anguish grew. "I thought we could buy Ponyboy those new track shoes he wanted and that book he's always talking about, you know, To Kill a Bluebird or whatever. And we could take him to the city, show him that there's more to life than this stupid hick town. And I thought maybe you could stop working them extra shifts you've been doing lately and…and…and things could go back to how they used to be!"

He burst into noisy tears, collapsing against my chest. I sighed, reaching around to stroke the back of his head like our dad used to. "It's ok Sodapop, everything's ok." He sobbed hard for about ten minutes before pulling himself together.

"I wanna go to bed now." He mumbled, pulling away from my chest and heading towards his and Ponyboy's room. I stopped him with a firm had on his chest.

"I think you'd best sleep on the couch tonight Little Buddy."

"Why?" Soda asked, his eyes starting to fill up again. "You think I'm a bad influence now or something?"

"No," I said calmly, slowly steering him towards the sofa. "I just think it's been a long night and Pony isn't used to seeing you like this. You really want him waking up to find his older brother lying next to him snoring like a pig and smelling like a brewery?"

"No…" Soda muttered miserably, settling himself down on the couch. "I never wanted him to see me like this. Guess I'm just lousy big brother."

I covered Soda up with a blanket and placed an empty trashcan beside him. "No you're not, you just screwed up is all. Happens to everyone once in a while."

"Everyone 'cept you Darry." I smiled sadly as I turned out the light, stepping over Steve who was passed out on the floor. If only Soda knew, I thought bitterly as I walked back to my room.

Images of Ponyboy's young, confused eyes pleading with me to explain why I was so mad and Soda cowering away as I yelled at him when he was only trying to help me out haunted me as I tried to drift off to sleep. Even Superman screws up sometimes.

_May become a two-shot depending on the response I get or if inspiration strikes again! Read and Review please!_

_Smile xxx_


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